Former People’s Deputy from the «Party of Regions,» Valeriy Konovalyuk, has been formally charged in a major fraud case involving the alleged embezzlement of nearly $1 million. The criminal proceedings are currently being reviewed by the Pechersk District Court of Kyiv. Amid the ongoing trial, the former lawmaker mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine in March 2026, leading the court to officially suspend the consideration of his criminal case.
The case centers on a failed luxury real estate transaction. In February 2021, Valeriy Konovalyuk and his wife, Valeriya, entered into a preliminary agreement to sell a premium estate—including a residential house, land plots, a bathhouse, a stable, and a garage—valued at 44.9 million UAH. The prospective buyers were identified as Oleksandr Dementiienko and Alisa Rysukhina.
Although the final contract was scheduled to be signed by June 1, 2021, the transaction was never finalized. Despite the termination of the preliminary agreement, the buyers had already transferred substantial sums to Konovalyuk: Oleksandr Dementiienko paid $510,000 and €15,000, while Alisa Rysukhina advanced $450,000 and 1.3 million UAH.
According to investigators, in September 2022, the former MP covertly sold the property to a third party without reimbursing the original buyers. Consequently, law enforcement agencies served Konovalyuk a notice of suspicion under Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (fraud committed on an especially large scale).
The former politician had been placed on a wanted list since October 2024. In court, Konovalyuk claimed he never received the official suspicion notice, discovered the criminal case by chance through public registries, and only returned to Ukraine in late August 2025. The exact circumstances and date of his departure from the country remain unverified.
In November 2025, the court granted the prosecution’s motion, placing a freeze on the Konovalyuk family’s assets totaling 47.9 million UAH. The seized assets include:
All bank accounts belonging to the defendants;
An apartment and two underground parking spaces registered under Valeriya Konovalyuk;
Five land plots totaling approximately 2 hectares in the village of Zdorivka, Vasylkiv District, Kyiv Oblast.
The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has already initiated enforcement proceedings regarding the recovery of these assets.
Parallel to the criminal trial, the former MP’s family initiated divorce proceedings. The politician’s wife filed for divorce in March 2026. However, Konovalyuk petitioned the court for a six-month reconciliation period, citing «temporary difficulties» and the couple’s two young children. Despite objections from the wife’s legal counsel, the court granted a 2-month reconciliation window; no further rulings on the divorce have been issued since.
Background: Since March 2026, Valeriy Konovalyuk has actively posted photographs of himself in military uniform on social media. Reports indicate that he holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and currently serves within the Command of the Territorial Defense Forces of the AFU. The former lawmaker has also been spotted participating in official prisoner-of-war exchanges.
Under current Ukrainian legislation, the active military service of a defendant constitutes lawful grounds for pausing judicial proceedings. Consequently, the high-profile fraud case against the former MP has been officially put on hold.